It’s been roughly six months since longtime coach of Michael Phelps, Bob Bowman, was announced as head coach of the men’s and women’s Arizona State University swimming programs and already the team is feeling a culture shift.
Now that the Sun Devils’ 2015-16 season is officially underway (both men’s and women’s teams are 1-0), ‘Cronkite Sports on Fox Sports Arizona’ recently produced a video highlighting what the storied coach’s arrival on campus means to the existing athletes on the swimming roster, as well as how his presence affects the future of the Sun Devils’ program.
*Note: The piece on Bowman begins around time stamp 9:20 and spans until approximately 13:15 within the video.
Of his outlook on his new role, Bowman says in the video, “I wanted to go somewhere where we could build something that wasn’t there before. This is the perfect place to do it.” He continues that, “It will take us several years to get to where we want to be, but I’m very pleased with what we have to work with. Also, the interest from recruits has been really tremendous.”
As for the athletes getting to know their new coach, so far they like what they see. Junior Alysha Bush comments that the team all realizes that training under the Head Olympic men’s coach means ASU swimmers “have an opportunity of a lifetime and we all want to take advantage of it.” She continued that, “the coaches care about us as people and not just athletes – it’s a real culture change.”
Freshman Daniel Comforti agrees with the refreshing vibe on-deck, stating “I’ve never had a coach be so into what he is doing. He is here for us, to make us better.”
Seeing the greatest Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps, on deck is certainly pretty cool, too.
Great things are happening to ASU swimming this year. All the BEST to ASU! ?